He’s been the brightest light in the Mets dim season, but R.A. Dickey is 38 years-old and will be a free agent after the 2013 season. In light of that, Adam Rubin reports:

Despite knuckleballers often successfully pitching into their 40s, Mets officials appear wary of making a sizable commitment. That could lead Dickey to being traded this offseason if the right deal presented itself, since the Mets would have some starting-pitching depth to absorb his departure.

Trading a 20-game winner (and perhaps the reigning Cy Young winner) would not be a popular move among the fan base and could further erode attendance in 2013.

It would piss off every Mets fan around, but really, his value is unlikely to be any higher and it’s not at all certain that he’d be an important part of the next good Mets team. The gamble, if they keep and extend him, is that his current production — or something close to the current production — is a new normal that will last for his age 39-42 seasons or whatever. Such a thing is not unprecedented, especially with knuckleballers, but it’s also not likely.

I have to wonder if there isn’t a team out there who wouldn’t overpay for an inexpensive, 2013 version of R.A. Dickey. I bet someone would.

bennyandthemets, I’m curious why you say that? And please don’t tell me because he’s expressed a desire to be a Met long term. Because 99 times out of 100 that type of comment means absolutely nothing when a ballplayer says it.

Just looking at the numbers. This will be the 4th consecutive year the Mets have finished under .500 and in 4th place in a division of 5 teams. They realistically have no chance of passing either the Nationals or the Braves in the standings in the immediate future. And the Wilpon’s have publicly stated they have no intention of seeking out high priced FA’s this winter or really increasing their payroll much if anything.

Stupid site won’t allow me to reply to your comment so i’ll do it here…

Mets have a good young pitching nucleus going forward (Harvey-Wheeler-Niese)…they are not as far away from competing as you think.

paperlions - Oct 2, 2012 at 5:15 PM

No change Albert leaves…he said so….over and over, money doesn’t matter to him, just family (which is in StL), his charity foundation (which is in StL), his restaurant (which is in StL), and playing for the Cardinals (who are in StL)…..of coarse $254M were in Anaheim.

Oh please, let him become a Beaver Wrestler…PLEASE! All that is good and wonderful in this world needs RA Dickey to come north and wrestle beavers with my boys. Make it so, Jobu. Make it so for cake, pretty girls, fast cars and really cold beer on really hot days. I’ll buy the rum and bring the cake, but just help a brother out, please Jobu, I’m beggin ya…

Bah! Pie (*spits*) is for losers. He shall have cake. Cake, a smoked meat sandwich, and cabbage borscht. Served with a seal blubber garnish. Man can’t wrestle no Beaver on pie (*spits*). Man needs wholesome cake to cope with the Beav.

chill1184 - Oct 2, 2012 at 3:54 PM

A couple of things

1. A team source who isn’t named. More of that quality journalism from the Ministry of Truth and being parroted by Craig

2. Alderson had said at least two months ago that no one is safe

3. The game of baseball management is a game of poker. Its you against the rest of MLB. Do you honestly think Alderson is going to tip his hand this early? Your an idiot if you think so.

4. The reality is no one knows what will happen. All it is, is mindless media trolling. With Dickey there is no prescient other than pointing to Wakefield pitching until 46.

So you support telling your plans to the rest of MLB so other GM’s can just plan accordingly? Would you prefer fool instead of idiot?

rooney24 - Oct 2, 2012 at 5:11 PM

chill – maybe scatterbrian was referring to the fact that it should be “you’re”, not “your”. He might have laughed at your poor grammar rather than your opinion.

scatterbrian - Oct 2, 2012 at 5:14 PM

I support contractions.

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged - Oct 2, 2012 at 4:54 PM

With Dickey there is no prescient other than pointing to Wakefield pitching until 46

Do you mean pitching into your 40s is unprecedented, save for Wakefield? Because that’s wrong as well. Phil Niekro pitched until he was 48, his brother Joe Niekro until he was 43, Charlie Hough until he was 46. See where we’re going with this?

Benny- there’s no chance Wright leaves? Even if the mets rebuilding plan takes 3-4 years? Why would they drop a $100MM on any player during a time they themselves think they may not compete? There’s a VERY good chance the mets make a low offer. There’s also a greater likelihood that regardless of what they offer Wright, he may just want to leave for a better, more consistent chance of winning. He’ll be paid no matter where he signs, so why not win?

Adam Rubin reported…take it with a grain of salt. I think Mets upper management are feeding him disinformation, like Wright and Davis could also not return next year. Damn, for the right price, anyone could be had.

Mets fans will be mad until the team is good again, and trading Dickey might speed up the process (as long as they do it right). Wright too. Better to have one more year of complete pain than 5 or 6 years of just moderately severe pain